Trial Results Summary.

Graph 1.
The first graph shows the difference in air and water content of white peat with and without Fytocell, after being saturated and a suction pressure applied.

The white peat was used on its own, (pure), and also in a mix with 15% Fytocell.

The test samples were saturated, and a suction pressure, (negative pressure), was then applied to simulate the action of roots, and also measure how much water will be directly available to the growing plant.

As you can see from the graph, at a suction pressure of 0, both the pure white peat and the white peat/Fytocell mix have 94% of the pores full of water. At a pressure of -3, the white peat has 86% of the pores full of water, but the peat/Fytocell mix has only 81% of the pores full of water.

The suction force of -3 simulates wet conditions in a pot and shows that there is around 50% more air in the mix containing Fytocell compared to the pure peat. This obviously helps growth and sometimes survival of the plant when the pot is very wet. Air is a major factor of root growth, so when the air and water ratio are balanced, then root growth and ultimately top growth can continue.

The suction pressure mimics the draw of water from a root. The results of the peat/Fytocell mix show that more water is “sucked out”, when a negative pressure is applied. This shows that the water is more readily available to the plant.

Graph 2.
The same test was carried out with black peat, and a mix of black peat and 15% Fytocell.

The results are similar showing that in wet conditions, there is around 100% more air in the black peat/Fytocell mix compared to just the pure peat.

Graph 3.
The same test was carried out with Fibre peat and a mix of fibre peat and 15% Fytocell.

The results show that the fibre peat/Fytocell mix is able to hold more water than the pure fibre peat. This is expected as fibre peat is very course, and has a high air content and lower capacity to retain moisture. Therefore in this case it would be beneficial to add Fytocell to improve the water holding capacity.

Graph 4.
This graph shows the relative difference in re-saturation of pure white peat and a white peat/Fytocell mix, after they had been dried out.

Both samples were dried out in an oven to remove as much water as possible. They were then re-saturated with water and the time to reach the same level of saturation was measured.
As you can see from the graph, the white peat/Fytocell mix, re-saturates much more quickly than the pure white peat. After 15 minutes, the Fytocell/peat mix has over 120% more water content than does the pure white peat

This ability for the Fytocell/peat mix to re-saturate quickly is very important in hot or drying conditions, when rewetting of dried out pots is often very difficult. The quicker the pots are wetted up again the less stress they are put under and therefore the better the quality of end product.

Graph 5.
The same test was carried out with fibre peat and a mix of fibre peat and 15% Fytocell.

The results are similar in terms of ease of re-saturation, but a little less pronounced.

Graph 6.
The same test was carried out with black peat and a mix of black peat and 15% Fytocell.

The results are again similar to the ones above although it shows that black peat takes longer and is more difficult to re-saturate.

Table 1.
This table gives the actual figures which were inputted into the various graphs.